Published 8:00 pm, Tuesday, July 10, 2007

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Witnesses said Jarvell Ward began floundering immediately after jumping into the water from "The Rocks," a remote spot in the park located well outside the area protected by lifeguards. It is posted as off-limits to swimmers.

"I don't think he knew how to swim," said Shad Anglero, 23, one of more than a dozen people who accompanied the victim to the park. Most of them were making their first visit to the popular swimming and picnic area.

The near tragedy, which happened just before 2 p.m., came barely a week after the state DEP announced additional measures intended to enhance the safety of visitors to the park, where eight people have drowned since 1998.

A visibly upset Hodge accused state officials of not following through on promises to protect park visitors, citing in particular the absence of a personal watercraft that could have brought rescuers to the scene in half a minute, instead of forcing them to run more than a quarter mile over boulders and fallen trees to reach the spot where the swimmer vanished.

"DEP promised upgrades and improvements, and they didn't follow through on any of them," Hodge said.

In addition to the lack of a watercraft, no DEP officers were in the park at the time, and there was no one handing out fliers to warn visitors about the number of drownings at Squantz and advising them to keep away from The Rocks, Hodge said.

"They should either protect the people or close the park down until they can," Hodge said.

The state agreed to the enhancements earlier this year in an attempt to curb drownings at Squantz Pond, which has had by far the highest number of fatalities among all state parks over the past decade.

A DEP officer on a personal watercraft was at the park over the weekend, but on Tuesday -- with fewer than 200 people in the water -- enforcement efforts were clearly reduced.

State DEP police Capt. Raul Camejo said he and one other officer were on duty Tuesday in DEP's western district.

The other six officers assigned to state parks in Fairfield and New Haven counties had the day off because they worked over the weekend, he said.

"We're trying to step up things as much as possible, but we're dealing with limited manpower," Camejo said.

New Fairfield resident Jesse Kamienski was picnicking at the park with his girlfriend, Christine Fucci, when they saw "a commotion" near The Rocks about 1:50 p.m.

Kamienski took off running through the woods and dove into the water, locating the victim just before a lifeguard reached them.

"The lifeguard ran past me and I heard him say, 'I wish they would just give us a flipping Jet Ski,'" Fucci said.

Kamienski helped the lifeguard pull the victim out of the water and assisted with CPR before firefighters from the nearby Squantz firehouse arrived in a rescue boat and carried him back to the boat launch, where he was loaded into an ambulance and rushed to the hospital.

Just last week, DEP officials also announced they had banned cliff diving at Squantz Pond and at Miller Pond in eastern Connecticut, where five people have drowned since 2000.

As part of the stepped-up enforcement efforts, DEP said it was hiring extra officers, posting more signs, and fining people who violate the new policies.

"We're just so saddened by this accident, and our thoughts and prayers are with this young man and his family," DEP spokesman Dennis Schain said Tuesday.

"We have taken a series of aggressive steps to improve safety at state parks, and we're open to doing more. But it's difficult to be everywhere at every moment."

Following a telephone conversation with DEP commissioner Gina McCarthy on Tuesday afternoon, Hodge said the state will be stationing a watercraft at Squantz Pond every day for the rest of the season.

In addition to reducing the response time in emergency situations, Hodge said, the craft will allow park personnel to be more aggressive in keeping people off The Rocks.